Friday, 10 July 2015

Peter Pinkney, RMT President and Natalie Bennett support for the rail and Tube strikes.

London Underground tube network shut down. RMT, UNITE, TSSA and ASLEF all won ballots for industrial action that has led to over 24 hours of industrial action on the tube and on the railway

Peter Pinkney, RMT President has been on the picket lines :

"Despite negotiating for three months TFL have not moved to understand the problems. This dispute is not just about money for the workers, it is also about working practices, and also about the safety of the public.We must remember that these workers are the same people who were rightly called heroes ten years ago after the tube, and bus bombings. These same people are now looked on with scorn by the bosses, right wing press and the Mayor. The public are on our side. On the picket line in Brixton, this morning, I lost count of the members of the public who wished us well. The unions are united in our determination to protect our workforce and the public. The policy of TFL, and this government is to force more austerity on us, not to provide a better service. If they wanted to provide a better service, they would not be shutting all the booking offices. We don't like seeing the public suffer, but the truth is, we haven't caused this dispute, the Government and bosses have. The press should start looking at them instead of constantly attacking trade unions. We want a just settlement, and the ball is firmly in their court to come up with something. Today the tube workers have showed the way how to fight back against injustices by unscrupulous employers, and I hope other trade unions will take up the baton, and begin the fight back" Peter Pinkney is a member of the Green Party Trade Union group

GREEN Party leader Natalie Bennett has expressed support for the rail and Tube strikes. The Rail and Maritime Transport union have begun a three-day walkout after a dispute with First Great Western over job cuts and safety, while around 2,000 London Underground workers are on strike today.

Bennett said:

“I stand in solidarity with the workers striking this week. These strikes are the last resort of workers seriously concerned over issues of safety, staffing and pay, and it is clear that employers in both cases have failed to provide the reasonable assurances that their employees have the right to ask for.

"In any significant change to services and the conditions of those who work on them - be it the night Tube or the new inner-city trains - the needs of those who will be staffing them must be a high priority, and workers forced to take industrial action to ensure that this is the case have my support.”

- See more at: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2015/07/09/natalie-bennett-stands-%E2%80%9Cin-solidarity%E2%80%9D-with-striking-rail-and-tube-workers/#sthash.hVWrqLdJ.D84KoPl3.dpuf

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